#i'm only still watching bc fandom friends and for the purpose of transformative work and just out of curiosity personally

[milfbrainrot]

yj complaining

i'm getting so tired of the theories that yj derailing is Actually because it's a Commentary on the Audience, about how real life doesn't work out poetically but We as the Depraved Audience want fucked up deaths that satisfy, We as the Dumbass Audience want to find meaning just like the girls do even when there is none, that We as the Audience of seemingly mostly people who experience misogyny first-hand and want to see a cathartic commentary on it are just... getting off to female pain?!

like. 1) yeah i got into the feral teen girl cannibalism show because i wanted feral teen girls. i think everyone did. why does that have to say anything about me beyond... that i wanted an interesting story that has to be explored in fiction because it's not what i want to happen irl?

and 2) i think the writers just don't know what they're doing in either case. why make a show that is specifically unsatisfying across the board intentionally without anything to really balance that out? or do they just not know how to make it satisfying? i lean toward the latter lol, especially because even if there is a case for this idea to pan out... it doesn't feel like it was planned from the start.

"WE as the AUDIENCE are It, the It that hungers for spilled blood!" sure, but also i got into this show because the girls were supposed to be the ones hungering for spilled blood lol. both me AND the girls can want carnage. that's actually what was supposed to happen - teen girls unraveling without the restrictions of society, teen girls being just as awful as teen boys if not worse, teen girls losing their connection to humanity as they become one with the nature coiling around them in a way that makes you wonder if their descent is ACTUALLY a transition into what core humanity is supposed to be.

so... while i do like the twist that not all of them actually wanted the more recent hunting and feasting, that some of them are more attached to their humanity and various factions are plotting various forms of violence for better or for worse, that now that we actually KNOW the characters we can recognize them as people more than silent cloaked figures whose story we could only make as many unfair assumptions about as the in-universe public... i'm not sure it's being executed very well.

IF the actual takeaway is that We The Audience were just silly depraved monsters for WANTING the girls spiraling into unleashing the rage wound up in them from modern society, for WANTING the premise that they could be just as bad if not worse than the lord of the flies boys... then why was that the premise? it feels cheap to go "oooooh you wanted a show about carnage after being promised a show about carnage? Ha Ha, your disappointment in us not delivering actually says something about YOU and YOUR capacity for violence and YOUR cannibalism of people's trauma!" and that feels inappropriate as well as cheap, and really not as big of a gotcha as people think because these characters are NOT REAL. this isn't a sensationalized tv show about a real life serial killer bending to the will of whatever is most interesting, and while it was loosely based on the andes crash it is hardly comparable at this point.

i do think there is more time for the girls to have a more unified decline, or that the more feral faction will grow. i think there are also a lot of instances of violence and "selfish" tendencies, even if they aren't the ones we expected - passively "allowing" violence, rigging the card draw, etc. i also do think that at this point in the story--largely BECAUSE they got snapped back into themselves with the promise of near-rescue--they do need to be broken down more collectively to reach that point as a group. maybe we'll get that in season 4! or maybe the writers just didn't properly utilize the time between last winter and this one enough to get us there on time and this was what happened instead. so many more people need to die in such a short span of time, i'm not really sure what they're thinking.

ANYWAY. the show could bring in that angle, sure. but it also needs to have contained substance imo first. there are media where the whole point is commentary on entertainment, like the truman show. but that has always been a teensy tiny background blip in yj - we see the "what really happened out there?" true crime girlie fascination from people, we see tabloids and books theorizing, but it was always... less about that and more about their actual trauma carrying over into adulthood and how it impacts them. especially now, there really isn't much outside speculation, even after huge scandals like nat's death with the survivors present or taissa's political crash. now would be the perfect time to ground that element more. like. i got into a show about teens crashing in the wilderness and eating each other to survive, and while i SEE the point of an angle about how the in-universe treatment of the situation can reflect on similar in our own universe, i don't think our expectations of a narratively satisfying story can have that same conclusion extracted from it. there is a difference between kinda punishing the audience for engaging with fiction as fiction, versus giving a commentary on how people sensationalize true crime.

basically the "oOoOoO the show is ACTUALLY about how WE crave violence and theatrics at the expense of other people!" thing feels like a slap in the face lmfao. i unfortunately think that theory has merit after some stuff in season 3, so i don't blame the way some people are clinging to it, but if this was what the writers were intending (especially if you do take the citizen detective boards as a stand-in for the reddit forums the writers apparently spend too much time in) that doesn't sit right with me with what we currently have. that said, i also do think it's funny that people are more willing to believe that unsatisfying writing is a Grand Plan and not just... bad writing. this is especially weird to me as someone who didn't like season 2 and got a lot of shit for it, and i'm guessing a lot of people trying to "justify" their own declining love for the show with this theory are some of the same people who were pretty vile at our valid criticisms in s2. like... you can dislike the show, it's okay lol. even the people who work on it hate it, in case you haven't noticed.

melanie said it best:

"I think people have an idea that they’ve mapped out the entire series arc for me, and they very much haven’t. Season 1, I got told in great detail what was going to happen. That was kind of all I needed to hear at that point. I was like, 'OK, they really have a plan.' Then they said, 'Season 2 is gonna focus on this. Season 3, we think this is going to happen.' It was very vague for the rest of it. I just needed to know that they actually had a plan, not just, like, a cool pilot. So I don’t know where the story is going. I have no idea. After this season, I have less of an idea."

[trefle]

look, wenclair had zero chance of happening as early as in the first season and this is something we were aware of from the start. we also knew there would be guys taking an interest in Wednesday and it also happened as expected as both Tyler and Xavier try to get into her good graces. reviews keep stressing though that Wednesday isn't interested in either of them and even go as far to point out that SPOILER Wednesday herself asked Tyler to come the dance but only because she needed him for the purpose of her investigation). so this supposed love triangle doesn't even work as a triangle in the first place because wednesday herself wants none of it.

as for enid, her character is canonically 15, emotionally insecure and her biggest fear is dying alone because she's different and doesn't seem to fit in even in a school for outcasts. and of course who would want a werewolf who can't even transform? i'm guessing this has to be the core of her woes but of course i will have to see the show first to know more. anyway it is heavily implied that her parents aren't very accepting of her either as the fandom managed to successfully deduce.

my point is that if she's shown (romantic) interest she will absolutely latch onto it and won't even question it. she needs the valiadation that she's not unlovable and is actually worthy of attention. even if she gets a boyfriend by the end of the season it's still fine because she needs to figure it out who she is and who and what she truly wants and it takes time. i'm not saying i'll like it bc obviously i will not but it's what it is. she's also young, 15 as i've mentioned, so she will not end up with a guy at this stage no matter what.

yes the reviews are coming in and we learn a bit more about the show each day. i think it's safe to say it's not flawless (what is, really?) but the general consensus seems to be that it turned out very good and is definitely worth watching it. critics are also in agreement that the friendship that grew between wednesday and enid is beautiful and heartwarming and is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) highlight(s) of the show. and that is such an amazing outcome of the first season, don't you think so?

while i cherish this friendship with my whole heart, i honestly believe wenclair has every chance to turn romantic in future seasons. i don't think anyone expected this ship to be this huge and popular and most importantly powerful. no one could have guessed there would be a massive fandom months before the show's premiere that is demanding romantic wenclair to happen. no one would have known it would be such a force to reckon with. but here we are, making our voices heard and we gotta continue to do so. we know that the cast is aware of wenclair because they would be blind not to. hunter doohan's shoutout from that infamous wednesgay event was just confirming it. by this point the creators must be very much aware of it too and when they see there is such a huge and overwhelming support and demand for the pairing there's no way they don't consider it. it wouldn't be the first time something like this happened, that the fanbase's voice was so loud that the creators ended up giving in. why could it not happen again? wenclair has a fantastic potential, they alrady have a great foundation after becoming friends by the end of this season, jenna and emma have insanely good chemistry as per the critics' opinion, wednesday's sexuality has never been confirmed (obviously) so they won't even have to worry about rewriting existing canon and of course they can do whatever they please with their own original characters. this is such an opportunity for writing an absolutely compelling story, because that's what wenclair is. beautiful and compelling and a breath of fresh air. but it will only have a chance of happening if the show gets all the support possible so it gets renewed for further seasons and watching it through gifsets will not help at all. obviously i can't tell you what to do or not do but please, if you were previously interested in the show don't let certain spoilers turn you off now mere days before the premiere and consider watching it like you intended to cause chances are you're going to enjoy it and you are also helping getting that renewal so wenclair will have a shot.

at this point id rather be called a gay slur then to witness wednesday or enid end up with a bland white cisman; and the way things are going from spoilers/reviews i think ill be watching the show through gifsets so i can save my eyes from viewing such nausea